Vetting Process Begins for Iran Presidential Applicants

Speaking to the state TV, the spokesperson for the Constitutional Council said the vetting process got underway on Tuesday morning and will run for five days.

The registration process for the 14th round of Iran’s presidential election began on May 30 and ended on June 3.

Hundreds of individuals put in requests for candidacy during the past five days, while only 80, including four women, met the eligibility criteria to register.

All applicants are carefully vetted by the Constitutional Council, which will announce the list of final candidates on June 11.

The applicants include 38 former members of the Parliaments, 3 incumbent ministers, 13 former ministers, the current Parliament speaker, and a former president.

The prominent figures that have decided to test their luck with voters include former chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, sophisticated politician Ali Larijani, former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Speaker of the Parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, former vice president Eshaq Jahangiri, and Roads Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash.

The election campaign period is set for June 12-26, while the nationwide presidential election will be held on Friday, June 28.

The new administration, the 14th one after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, will assume power in late June or early July and hold office for four years.

A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage crashed in northwestern mountainous forests on May 19, killing the president, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and six others.

According to the Constitution, First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber has taken the helm as the acting president at the discretion of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.